Over the past nine years, of the 407 non-government organisations (NGOs) that got the Central government’s nod to receive foreign funds for religious purposes, 194 showed they ran Christian programmes, according to Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) data.

Registration under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) is obligatory for NGOs to receive donations from abroad, and it mandates a clearly defined cultural, economic, educational, religious, or social programme for registration. While the Act aims at regulating both the “acceptance and utilisation of foreign contribution or foreign hospitality” by individuals, associations, and companies, it can also prohibit organisations from taking in these funds for “any activities detrimental to the national interest”.

In 2023, the four FCRA registrations cancelled on grounds of violation are all Christian organisations: Shekina Prophetic Mission Trust (Tamil Nadu), Holy Berachah Ministries (Karnataka), Kashmir Evangelical Fellowship, Bethel Charitable Trust (both Jammu and Kashmir).

Kashmir Evangelical Fellowship and Bethel Charitable Trust (both Jammu and Kashmir) were stripped of FCRA registration as they were carrying out conversion to Christianity and building churches in the Jammu region with the funds.

According to MHA data, 3,217 associations were granted fresh registration under the FCRA from 2014 to October 1 this year. As per a report by The Hindu, a break-up of the categories shows that 194 NGOs were registered under “religious-Christian”, 139 under “religious-Hindu”, 25 under Muslims, 29 Buddhist, 10 Sikh, and 29 Others.